Faith Christian finds offense in time, beats Sankofa in PIAA A 2nd round

CHELTENHAM >> After a slow first half, Faith Christian came out on fire in the third quarter and flew past Sankofa Freedom 55-27 in its PIAA Class A second round game Thursday night.

“What I told ‘em is we’ve been here before,” Faith head coach Tony DaCosta said. “We did a much better job in the second half, at least offensively.”

After scoring 13 points in the first half, Faith put up 24 in the third quarter.

“I just wanted them to play a little bit freer,” DaCosta said. “People can say what they want but sometimes in these situations teams get tight and I thought we were a little tight offensively … I said, ‘listen, just play.’”

The Lions quickly came out in the third and hit three 3s to make a four-point lead 11. Two came from Landon Coyle, who led Faith with 16 points in the game. The junior also finished with five rebounds.

“He hasn’t been shooting as well as we would like throughout the course of the season but he’s always been capable of that,” DaCosta said. “Luckily we found him when he was hot. We got him the ball and he was making shots. That was a big ride for us.”

Miki Vitek got in on the act in the fourth quarter with a pair of threes and a layup to put the game away for good. Vitek finished with 12 points in the game.

The Lions hit seven 3s in the second half, after failing to drop one in the first.

To say the first half was a slog would be an understatement, as Faith Christian went into the locker room with a 13-9 lead. The teams combined for 22 total points and 19 total turnovers in the opening 16 minutes.

Faith was able to build it’s lead on Sankofa mistakes more than anything. In addition to 10 first-half turnovers.

Landon Coyle stood out in the first half for Faith, scoring five points and grabbing four rebounds.

Faith Christian (24-4) faces Saint John Neumann in the quarterfinals. It is the first time since 2012 Faith has reached the PIAA quarterfinals.

About Steve Richards

First and foremost, I love anything Philly sports; that includes the Phillies, Sixers, Eagles, Flyers and Union (that’s a soccer team). I’m also a fan of the English Premier League squad Manchester City. In the college ranks, I follow the football, basketball, and baseball teams of both Penn State and the University of Texas. I work for SportsNetworker.com, where I am the COO. I also cover a variety of high school sports for The Reporter and PaPrepLive.com as a freelance writer. On the broadcast journalism side of things I’m a co-host of the Prime Time Fantasy Football and Showcast podcasts on Next Level Radio. You can check that out right here. You’ll also find me on Twitter discussing a multitude of things. Feel free to give me a follow over there.

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About Steve Richards

First and foremost, I love anything Philly sports; that includes the Phillies, Sixers, Eagles, Flyers and Union (that’s a soccer team). I’m also a fan of the English Premier League squad Manchester City. In the college ranks, I follow the football, basketball and baseball teams of both Penn State and the University of Texas.

Currently, I'm a project manager for a company called Project Life Mastery. It's a company whose ultimate purpose is to grow, give, and support people in reaching their ultimate goals in life. We have a lot of fun while also being productive and helping people. Check us out when you have a chance.

As a writer I'm a freelance reporter for my local newspaper, The Reporter, and PaPrepLive.com. I cover a variety of high school sports on those platforms. I also write a variety of pop culture content for an awesome site called Pure Fandom.